John Shepard (DE)
Life on Earth Born on Earth, John Shepard had no parents. He was raised on the streets, learned to look out for himself. He ran in a street gang known as "the Reds" for some time before realizing it was wrong. He then left and joined the Alliance Military at age 18 to get away from the streets. He had nightmares about them for sometime, but they eventually passed. With his Earth life behind him he turned to the possibilities of what he could do to serve humankind, and later, the entire Galaxy. Early Career Shepard saw his whole unit die on Akuze. It caused some serious emotional scars, many of which from he did not recover. The Thresher Maw attack was believed to be caused by Cerberus, some kind of sick experiment they were doing. After that Shepard felt an extreme hatred towards Cerberus which he could not even begin to describe to Alliance Brass. Most of the higher-ups ignored him, despite his N7 designation. While the exact details of his expertise are unknown, since N7 Profiles are left incomplete for security purposes, meaning not even those with access knew much of anything about him, but it is rumored that he had some biotic potential, and could be a factor governing much of the fellow Alliance officers' distrust of him, although many of inferior rank either respected, or feared him. Saren Shepard became the first human Spectre in 2183, mainly to pursue a rogue agent. Saren was eventually tracked to Virmire. Here, Shepard encountered a form of 'VI Interface' with Saren's flagship, Sovereign. Sovereign became known as the Reaper Ship, a sentient construct capable of unimaginable power. After this, it became apparent to Shepard that Saren was not the real enemy. Shepard tracked Saren to Ilos, where he was attempting to open a backdoor to the Citadel for Sovereign to call in the Reaper invasion. Shepard chased Saren back to the Citadel, where Saren, attempting to control his own mind once again, shot himself to escape the indoctrination. The Normandy and the Arcturus Fleet stopped Sovereign, and the Citadel was saved. Resurrection Shepard was killed two months later by a Collector vessel. Two years later he was revived by Cerberus to continue fighting. Most of Shepard's original crew was dead, or had moved on. Still, Shepard led the fight all the way to the Collector base. Death Unfortunately, the Reaper threat was too much for even the might of Commander Shepard and the Normandy Crew. They all died save Joker and EDI. Shepard's last words to Joker was to warn the civilizations of the Galaxy of the approaching Reaper fleet. Shepard and the Normandy Crew died heroes. They will not be forgotten. Personality Shepard was, in many ways, the exact opposite of Saren Arterius. Shepard got things done right, not fast. He put lives before any mission, this including lives of his crew. Shepard would never shoot someone unless it was of the utmost necessity, and there was no other way, and not without good reason. Quotes *''"You're not even alive, not really. You're just a machine, and machines... can be broken."'' *''"The Collectors, the Reapers -- they aren't a threat to us. They're a threat to everything -- everyone. Those are the lives we're fighting for. That's the scale. It's been a long journey, and nobody's coming out without scars. But it all comes down to this moment. We win or lose it all in the next few minutes. Make me proud. Make yourselves proud."''